Malian singer detained in Italy in child custody row

Malian singer Rokia Traoré was arrested at Rome's Fiumicino airport over a Belgian conviction related to a child custody dispute.

She was detained while arriving for a concert. Traoré was initially arrested in France in 2020 on a Belgian warrant for not handing over her child to the Belgian father.

She later defied a travel ban and flew to Mali. In October, she was sentenced in absentia to two years in prison by a Belgian court for parental abduction.

Traoré's daughter, now nine, has lived in Mali since age four. The singer, a renowned artist and UN goodwill ambassador, had support from Mali's government.